Thursday, July 31, 2008

Now, before you get all excited, know that espn.com's Keith Law likes the deal from the perspective of all three teams involved. Everybody's a winner at the Keith Law Carnival, so step right up! But here's what he said about the Dodgers (insider only, no link; my bold emphasis at the end):

The Dodgers get much better this season in exchange for a great young arm who is probably three years away and a third baseman on whom they appeared to place little or no value. You have to imagine this is seen as a huge win within the Dodgers' front office.

If Ramirez, now freed from the team that "doesn't deserve" him, stops mailing in various at-bats and hits toward the right-tail end of his abilities (as he hit in April, for example), the Dodgers have just made a quick two-win upgrade in exchange for a good player they weren't going to use and a quality prospect, and they didn't have to add to their payroll. The move keeps Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones on the bench where they belong, and I wouldn't be surprised if the team were to try to outright Jones off the roster and assign him to Triple-A to clear the roster spot. The move makes the Dodgers slight favorites to win the NL West, assuming that they put the right personnel on the field.

The right personnel on the field does not include Andruw Jones or Juan Pierre--BOTH OF WHOM ARE STARTING TONIGHT in what I hope is to allow the obligatory "farewell waves to the crowd" for at least one of those players. Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp simply cannot ride the pine if we hope to make a run.